SEATTLE (AP) The group looking to bring professional hockey to Seattle has taken the next step in the pursuit of an NHL franchise.The Oak View Group and its prospective NHL ownership group Jakub Voracek Jersey Kids , led by billionaire David Bonderman and filmmaker Jerry Bruckheimer, submitted its expansion application with the National Hockey League on Tuesday.”We are excited for the next steps in the process and our continued partnership with the City of Seattle,” Oak View CEO Tim Leiweke said in a statement.The expansion application has been expected for weeks and is the next step in Seattle’s ongoing hope of bringing an NHL franchise to the largest market in the United States without a professional winter sports franchise. The filing also included a $10 million deposit. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan also tweeted her excitement about Oak View’s filing with the NHL.If Seattle is successful in its expansion bid, the new franchise would bring the league to an even 32 teams with 16 in each conference. A new team would also yield a hefty expansion fee – in the neighborhood of $650 million.The expansion application is a procedural step that was necessary to validate Oak View’s intent on making Seattle the next NHL market. Seattle’s application will be reviewed and ultimately the league’s executive committee will make a recommendation to the full NHL Board of Governors. The timeline for that is unknown.The expansion franchise process is running concurrent with a $660 million remodel of KeyArena being privately financed by OVG. The group has an aggressive timeline for construction that could have the renovated building open in time for the 2020-21 NHL season.The first test in how willing Seattle is to embrace the NHL will arrive in the coming weeks and months when the prospective ownership group begins a season-ticket drive, the same way the league tested Las Vegas. Any NHL team in Seattle would find a completely different landscape than a decade ago when the Sonics and NBA moved to Oklahoma City and the city lost its winter sports outlet.Seattle’s skyline is filled with as many construction cranes as snowcapped peaks in the surrounding mountains. Amazon has taken over an entire section of the city, joined nearby by satellite offices of Google and Facebook. The amount of wealth now in the Seattle market is part of the reason Oak View CEO Tim Leiweke has regularly called Seattle ”a brilliant marketplace” and one of the most enticing expansion opportunities in pro sports history.Seattle has become a city of transplants due to the booming local economy. A hockey franchise would provide those newcomers a team to rally around, much like what happened when the Sounders of the MLS arrived in 2009.But finding a foothold in Seattle will be an examination of how starved fans are for another team. Basketball is embedded in the DNA of the region thanks to 41 years of the SuperSonics until 2008 and a lengthy history of producing NBA talent.While the ownership group for the potential NHL franchise appears set, there remains some concern about having the new arena ready by the 2020 season. OVG and the city reached agreement on a memorandum of understanding for the arena in December. Councilmembers praised the agreement for including benefits for the city, including $20 million in cash and in-kind contributions to nonprofit organizations and another $40 million to help improve transportation in the area around Seattle Center.The MOU was the first step in a process that will include an environmental review. The city still needs to finalize several key documents with the developer, including the lease and other agreements.Under the MOU, Oak View Group would be responsible for regular facility upgrades for the life of the 39-year lease agreement. Should those upgrade requirements be met, there are two eight-year lease extensions that will be activated, and carry the entire life of the lease agreement to 55 years.—AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report. PRO BASKETBALLHOUSTON (AP) Stephen Curry and Golden State turned all those Houston bricks into a road back to the NBA Finals.Needing not only all their firepower but also 27 straight misses by the Rockets during an epic cold streak from 3-point range, the Warriors rallied to keep alive their hopes for a repeat.Kevin Durant scored 34 points, Curry sparked another third-quarter turnaround, and the Warriors earned a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals by beating the Rockets 101-92 in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals on Monday night.The defending champions trailed by as many as 15 in the first half after falling behind 17 in Game 6.Curry, who finished with 27 points, scored 14 of Golden State’s 33 points in the third quarter as Houston’s shooting didn’t just go cold, it froze. The Rockets missed all 14 3-point attempts in that quarter as part of a 1-for-21 second half from long range.The Warriors will host LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 on Thursday night in the fourth straight matchup between the teams.WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) – Celtics general manager Danny Ainge says point guard Kyrie Irving was unable to attend Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals because he was recovering from nasal surgery.Ainge said on Monday that Irving had a deviated septum. The injury occurred in November when he was hit in the face by teammate Aron Baynes. Irving wore a mask while healing from the facial fracture.Irving has not played since March because of a knee injury. But his absence on the Boston bench was noted when the Celtics played his former team Youth Jordan Weal Jersey , the Cleveland Cavaliers.Ainge joked: ”I don’t think he wanted to be seen in public and ruin his movie career.”HOCKEYLAS VEGAS (AP) – Commissioner Gary Bettman says an NHL team in Seattle would have the same favorable expansion terms given to the Vegas Golden Knights.Bettman says the league could vote on adding its 32nd franchise in Seattle later this year, although it won’t happen in June. Bettman remains just as amazed by the Golden Knights’ inaugural season as the rest of the sports world as they host the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Final.Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly both confirmed the NHL plans to keep the same rules on the next expansion draft. If it happens within the next two years, as increasingly expected, Vegas won’t have to lose any of its players.SOCCERZURICH (AP) – FIFA’s bid inspectors will hold a meeting in Zurich on Wednesday with the North American and Moroccan candidates hoping to host the 2026 World Cup.Officials from the joint United States-Canada-Mexico team and Morocco are invited to answer questions from a FIFA-appointed panel evaluating their bids ahead of the June 13 vote, FIFA said Monday.No date is set to publish the evaluation reports ahead of the vote by up to 207 FIFA member federations in Moscow.Though voters are not obliged to factor the reports into their choice, FIFA put a more rigorous assessment system in place after criticism of the 2018-2022 World Cup hosting votes in December 2010.CHESTER, Pa. (AP) – Josh Sargent scored in his American debut, fellow 18-year-old Tim Weah added a goal in his second international match and a young United States team beat Bolivia 3-0 in an exhibition Monday night.Walker Zimmerman put the Americans ahead in the 37th minute and Sargent doubled the lead in the 52nd. Weah, the son of former FIFA Player of the Year and current Liberia president George Weah, scored in the 59th.Weah, born on Feb. 22, 2000, became the fourth-youngest American to score when he displaced Sargent, who was born two days earlier. Sargent’s goal was particularly memorable – with his back to the goal, he intercepted a pass over his head from the goalkeeper, played the ball to himself and put it in the net with a strong right-footed shot from about 11 yards.With no World Cup to play for, interim U.S. coach Dave Sarachan went with youth. He gave six players their debuts, raising the total to 15 in four matches since the Americans were eliminated in qualifying. Defenders Erik Palmer-Brown and Antonee Robinson and goalkeeper Alex Bono joined Sargent as debutants in the starting lineup, and defender Matt Olosune and midfielder Keatan Parks entered on the second half.
